Reality Check for East Coast Family
John Bolton and his son, Kyle, both from Northern Virginia, and John’s nephews Kevin and Alex Harrison from Beaumont, Texas, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, respectively…
Well, they’re back on the snowy East Coast and regretting every minute of it. It’s 28 degrees and they have 10 inches of white on the ground. a reality check for this East Coast Family, and fellow Texans as well! The Bolton family has fished aboard Fire Hatt with Captain Chuck Wilson for several years, nothing compares to the day they had this time…Christmas Magic?
John Bolton and his son, Kyle, both from Northern Virginia, and John’s nephews Kevin and Alex Harrison from Beaumont, Texas, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, respectively, booked a half-day of family fishing in Kona Hawaii aboard Fire Hatt for the day after Christmas.
We took off from Honokohau Harbor around 7:00 AM with Captain Joe Shumaker at the controls and first mate Anthony De La Cruz setting the lines. About 10 minutes out, we’re hooked up on two lines! Kyle is in the chair reeling in the larger fish, while John tries to bring in his fish from the starboard aft. Kyle’s fish makes a couple of long runs, so Anthony first helps John bring in a nice striped marlin, which we estimated at about 80 pounds. Anthony successfully tags and releases the striped marlin, then goes to help Kyle bring in and then release a blue marlin, estimated at 175 pounds. Also tagged and released.
Captain Joe brings Fire Hatt to a spot where we see at least four humpback whales frolicking. One of the whales puts on a spectacular breaching display
A great start to the morning only gets better. After trolling near an offshore buoy, Kevin and Alex spot whale spouts closer to shore, and Captain Joe brings Fire Hatt to a spot where we see at least four humpback whales frolicking. One of the whales puts on a spectacular breaching display. After about 30 minutes whale-watching, we’re off to do more fishing, and not long after we’re hooked up again!
This time, Kevin is the chair, and after 15 minutes of hard reeling, he brings another blue marlin — this one estimated at 225 pounds — to the boat. Beautiful fish, as you can see from the pics.
Unfortunately, we could not get a fourth fish for Alex to bring in, but Fire Hatt entered the harbor flying flags for three marlin.
Fire Hatt is a proud member of the AFTCO Pro Fishing Team. You can go to AFTCO.com and 
read their amazing story.